A judge in Myanmar has rejected a motion to dismiss the case made against two Reuters journalists accused of breaking the Official Secrets Act while investigating a massacre of Rohingya Muslims.

Reporters Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, were detained in December and accused of possessing material relating to security operations in Rakhine state that was handed to them by the police.

Myanmar has faced global condemnation and accusations of extrajudicial killings, ethnic cleansing and genocide as about 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Rakhine for Bangladesh after a military crackdown on insurgents.

The government rejects the allegations and says it was defending itself against attacks from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army that took place in August.

Q&A

Who are the Rohingya?

The Rohingya are Muslims who live in majority-Buddhist Myanmar. They are often described as "the world's most persecuted minority".

Nearly all of Myanmar's 1.1 million Rohingya live in the western coastal state of Rakhine. The government does not recognise them as citizens, effectively rendering them stateless.

Extremist nationalist movements insist the group are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, although the Rohingya say they are native to Rakhine state.

Rights groups accuse Burmese authorities of ethnic cleansing, systematically forcing Rohingya from the country through violence and persecution, a charge the government has denied.

Photograph: Tracey Nearmy/AAP

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The two reporters have been held in Insein prison in Yangon since their arrest while facing hearings to determine whether the case will go to trial, with 17 out of 25 witnesses having given testimony.

Their lawyers asked the court to dismiss the case last week, citing in part troubling discrepancies in witness statements, but the motion was swiftly rejected in a Yangon courtroom packed with supporters, family and media.

“The court decided that the proposal from the defendants’ lawyer to release the defendants before all the witnesses were cross-examined has been rejected,” the judge, Ye Lwin, said.

The pair had been investigating a massacre of 10 Rohingya men on 2 September in the Rakhine village of Inn Din that was carried out by security forces and local residents.

The military admitted the atrocity took place and Reuters later published the story while the reporters were in prison.

Myanmar soldiers jailed for 10 years over massacre of Rohingya Muslims

The army has claimed the Rohingya men were terrorists, but has not presented any evidence to back up the claim.

Wa Lone referred to the sentencing of the soldiers as he was being directed back into the police van after the hearing.

“Those who killed people in the mass killing were given a sentence of 10 years. We were simply trying to find out the news and report this and we are facing a trial that could result in us going to prison for 14 years,” he said.

One of his lawyers, Than Zaw Aung, also compared the cases: “My question is why are the journalists still in detention in prison if their report is true.”

The case against the journalists has proceeded despite international calls for their release. Reuters announced last month that the prominent human rights lawyer Amal Clooney had joined the legal team.

The president of Reuters, Stephen J Adler, said the company was deeply disappointed with the court’s decision.

“We believe there are solid grounds for the court to dismiss this matter and to release our journalists. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were reporting on issues in Myanmar in an independent and impartial way,” he said.

“They have not violated any laws in the course of their newsgathering and were simply doing their jobs.”

Family members of the reporters were in tears after the ruling, but Wa Lone, who turned 32 on Wednesday and was brought cake by his friends, expressed optimism.

“I believe in democracy. I also believe that one day we will be released because of freedom of expression,” he said.

This agency story was amended on 2 May 2018. An earlier version incorrectly described the judge’s ruling as meaning the case would go to trial.